


The Company of Voices

by Rhianne



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gen Fic, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-06 19:39:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/422476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianne/pseuds/Rhianne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam leaves for Stanford.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Company of Voices

The righteous fury that consumes him as he storms away from his father and brother, college acceptance letter in hand, sustains his flight until the coach reaches Arkansas. 

Still hours from the state of California, Sam leans across without thinking to point out the sleek Mustang that’s pulled up in the next lane, knowing his brother will appreciate the curves of the car as much as those of the blonde who’s driving.

The empty seat blows away the remnants of his anger on a wave of loneliness.

The rest of the journey goes by in a daze. Sam sees little of the changing landscape, immersed in memories of his brother, of the good times that had so often been lost amid the fear and hunger of his childhood.

Remembering the good times is almost worse, knowing they will never happen again. Sam will never admit to anyone how close he comes to getting off the bus and going back, every time it stops to pick up more passengers.

Only the tiny kernel of certainty deep down inside, that there has to be more to life than hunting and hiding, is enough to keep Sam on the bus all the way to Stanford. 

Maybe one day, he thinks, he’ll be able to return to his family, to show Dean that there is real worth in the normal, suburban life he’s always scorned.

His registration goes by in a blur, the sheer possibility of what lies ahead chasing away all his doubts and fears. His excitement lasts until he’s finished enrolling, but with every passing moment Sam is convinced someone is going to tell him they’ve made a mistake, that nobody wants him there and he’s thrown away everything he’s ever known for nothing. 

It doesn’t happen. 

Instead, his arrival is processed with an almost dismissive efficiency as he’s given maps and keys and told where to go and what to sign. He hears other new students complain about the impersonality of it all, but to Sam it’s everything he’s ever wanted. Here he’s just another face in a crowd of thousands. No-one’s looking down on him or judging him because of his hand-me-down appearance, or because they’ve seen the bruises on his arms after a desperate night of hunting.

Here, he can be anyone or anything he wants to be. 

Yet all he wants is to share his day with his brother.

Instead he sits in his dorm room, staring at bland walls and empty shelves. His room-mate hasn’t arrived yet, and he’s spent weeks in motel rooms that were smaller than this, but suddenly it’s all too close, too silent, as the reality of what he’s done finally engulfs him.

He scrambles for his radio, fumbling the buttons in his haste. The sound deafens him but there’s no music, just endless commercials and discussions littered with pop culture references he doesn’t understand. 

Closing his eyes Sam leaves the radio on anyway, needing the company of voices that aren’t his own.


End file.
